A mentally ill man wades into cold water off a shallow beach. The man’s mother contacts authorities asking for help. No lifeguards are on duty, first responders line the shore and a Coast Guard boat cannot come into the shallow cove.

Sound familiar? This was July 10, 2000, and the man survived when two Benicia police officers unbuckled their gun belts and waded out to pull the distraught man to shore.

Aside from the happy ending, the Benicia incident was eerily similar to the Memorial Day death of Raymond Zack, who waded into the shallows off an Alameda beach as police and firefighters watched for an hour from the shore. A bystander waded out to pull the lifeless 52-year-old back to the beach.

Alameda police and firefighters have faced national criticism for their lack of action, but they say budget cuts, lack of training and the physical threat of rescuing a large, suicidal man kept them on the shore.

The Benicia incident began when the unidentified man’s mother reported him missing from a board-and-care home, according to the dispatch report obtained through a Bay Area News Group public records request.

She also told a dispatcher that “her son is mentally ill and has not been taking his medication lately.”

He was found at the West Ninth Street Park, 50 to 75 feet off the beach in chest-high water in an area popular with windsurfers, said Lt. Mike Daley, Benicia police spokesman.

Sgt. Frank Hartig and Cpl. Mark Hassler, then an officer, arrived and threw flotation devices tethered to a rope to the man. The man tossed them back to shore, Daley said.

The Coast Guard sent a boat, but it could not get close because the water was too shallow, Daley said, adding that the boat was upsetting the man.

After about 30 minutes, Hartig and Hassler took off their gun belts and waded in.

“We were confident at the time that our officers would get in the water and be able to control the suspect and we didn’t have any issues of officer safety,” Daley said. “With two of them going out there, they could easily control him and get him back to shore.”

Matthias Gafni is a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter for the Bay Area News Group. He has reported and edited for Bay Area newspapers since he graduated from UC Davis, covering courts, crime, environment, science, child abuse, education, county and city government, and corruption. A Bay Area native, he loves his Warriors, Giants and 49ers. Send tips to 925-952-5026 or mgafni@bayareanewsgroup.com. Send him an encrypted text on Signal at 408-921-8719.

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